EP. 42 / From Stay At Home Mom for 17 Years to Founding a Liquor Company: Mara Smith + Inspiro Tequila
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Do you feel like you can’t get back into the workforce or start your own business because you have been “just a mom” for years?
After spending 17 years at home with her kids, Mara Smith felt this way too. But then she realized that motherhood gave her all the skills she would need to start her own business.
Mara Smith is the founder of Inspiro Tequila. Mara founded it because she was looking for a gluten-free clean drink that fit into her healthier lifestyle. When she couldn't find the perfect one, she decided to create it. Inspiro Tequila is women-owned with a female distiller, certified WBENC brand and made with the female consumer in mind. Mara has twins that are sophomores in college and a 10 year old and is based in Chicago. Mara believes that women can innovate in any industry, even as an outsider if they're willing to put in the hard work and do the research.
Mara also emphasizes the importance of building supportive community networks. She shares how she has connected with other female founders and leaders, which has been essential to her journey as an entrepreneur. By having a supportive network of people, Mara has been able to get feedback, guidance, and even social media tips.
Plus, Lauren A. Tetenbaum, founder of LAT Counseling, a mom, former lawyer, and therapist certified in perinatal mental health and the Fair Play method shares a funny story about how her kids are actually listening to the things she says and implementing them.
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In this episode you will learn:
-How women can be successful in a male-dominated industry
-The importance of building a supportive community
-Why balance is a myth
-How to value your years at home with your kids as a benefit and not a disadvantage
Show Takeaways:
-With the right mindset and determination, you can achieve your goals and reach success.
-There is a growing movement of people who are pushing for more diversity in male-dominated industries.
-Having a supportive community network can provide you with a sense of belonging and connection, which can be a great source of motivation.
Quotes:
“All the skills I had prior to being home, I still had those and I actually honed new skills that I think we often overlook.”
“Instead of knocking down someone's door, which may have been hard, I built my own door.”
“I think having a community that's supportive is really essential.
“I don't believe in work-life balance. I like the term of ‘blend.’”
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EPISODE LINKS:
-Inspiro Tequila -Mara on LinkedIn
-Lauren A. Tetenbaum & LAT Counseling
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Kim (00:05):
If you're the parent of a college bound student, you're properly feeling mixed emotions right now as acceptance letters and financial aid offers arrive, excited and proud of your student but also stressed thinking about how you're going to pay for it all. Take my advice and check out college A student loans. They are the emotional support system to guide you through the college journey. From start to finish. With College Ave, you'll get free access to tools and resources that make the financial road to college easier. Like their student loan calculator that lets you see how a future loan can work for you and your budget. Plus, every month they give away a thousand dollars scholarship to one lucky family. Entering as fast and easy and winning could have a big impact on your college expenses. Visit College Ave slash exit interview. Trust me, it's a better student loan experience. There's no purchase necessary to enter or win the scholarship. See official contest rules for details@collegeave.com slash exit interview Meet Mara Smith, a mom who started inspiro tequila after being home with her kids for many years. She'll tell you her inspiration, how she did it, and advice for other founders.
(01:11):
This is Mom's exit interview, the show for moms who want to craft the career and life they want. Each episode, you'll meet inspirational bombs across various industries and levels who are working and living life on their own terms and they'll bring you actionable tips from finance to business development to happiness to crushing that imposter syndrome. I'm Kim Whitford. I was a burnt out media executive at Netflix, US Weekly and in TV news. I wanted a career where I was fulfilled at work but present at home with my kids. So I started working for myself and I love it, but not every day was easy or is easy. I wanted to explore with all of you how other moms were creating careers on their own terms. They're carving out flex jobs, starting their own businesses, they're taking back control. Join me and make work work for you instead of the other way around.
(02:15):
Two cool things that recently happened I wanted to share with you. The first is something cool from the podcast and the second is something that happened in my regular real life that I wanted to share with you. Cause I thought it'd be useful for anybody who's doing public speaking or even just being on camera for videos for your business. So first off, Sunday edit featured our show. They called it our favorite podcast for your mental health and they listed Mom's exit interview. Sunday Edit is a beauty and lifestyle digital magazine, the brainchild of the great Sunday Riley Skincare Company. And what they wrote is it says you'll feel less alone in your pursuit to somehow balance your professional and parenting goals after just one episode. Thank you so much. Please listen to more than one episode and hit plus hit follow on the show and rate and review and share it with your friends.
(03:01):
That would be amazing. And I recently spoke at the Women's Real Estate Investment Summit. I spoke in front of 200 people. These are women investing in real estate and it's run by Beth Aer, A Z O R at Azer Academy. She has like a hundred million dollars in real estate investments and her goal is to get more women investing. I was super honored to be the keynote speaker and I wanted to share my tips with you because I love practicing what I preach. I teach people how to be better on camera and how to make video on podcasts for their business. But when I speak, I also use those tips like I too get nervous. So I wanted to just review something I did. I wrote my keynote speech, I rewrote it and I kept it really clear. I made sure the message was straightforward.
(03:42):
I had four main points, basically a four-step process to overcome fear. The whole speech was about how I overcame fear to start my business and to start my podcast. And even though I was a media executive, I was afraid to launch my business and I was afraid to launch my podcast, fear of failure, of fear of judgment, fear of the unknown. And so I really help people take away those four main points. And in order to actually be on stage, I was nervous just like all of you. So a couple of the things that are really helpful is breathing. I've relied on deep breathing, breathing in for four seconds and breathing out for four seconds. And that calms the panic in your body. Your body's kind of in fight or flight mode so it really relaxes those nerves. I also make sure to up my energy with fun music.
(04:24):
For me it's Brianna, Britney, Beyonce, and I do positive affirmations. For those of you who remember the old snl, like Stuart Smalley, I am good enough, I am smart enough and Doug on it, people like me. But really I looked in the mirror and I did say, Kim, you got this. You're amazing. You're going to crush it. So I use breathing, I have my energy and I use a lot of positive affirmations. And if you are doing on camera, you're doing on camera for your business or you're doing public speaking, make sure to grab my tips. You can click in the show notes or go to kim writ.com. I have a whole free download on how to be awesome on camera. I love Mara Smith's story after spending years at home taking care of her three children, Mara Smith, founded in Spiro Tequila. I love hearing this because it reminds us we can all have second acts.
(05:10):
I'm already on my second act and looking forward to my third. Mara founded it because she was looking for a gluten-free clean drink that fit into her healthier lifestyle, which she couldn't find the perfect one. She decided to create it. Inspir tequila is rare. It's women owned with a female distiller, certified W B E N C brand and made with the female consumer in mind. Mara has twins that are sophomores in college and a 10 year old and is based in Chicago. Mara believes that women can innovate in any industry, even as an outsider if they're willing to put in the hard work and do the research. Mara, I am so excited to have you here. Can you please start by introducing yourself?
Mara (05:45):
I'm Mara Smith. I'm based in the Chicagoland area. I am the founder and c e o of a new clean added free tequila brand and Inspiro tequila and the mom of three most importantly. How
Kim (05:59):
Old are your kids?
Mara (06:00):
I have twins that are sophomores in college and I cannot even believe it, but just turned 20 and I have a 10 year old.
Kim (06:08):
Take me back a little bit to your work history. So when you got out of college, what did you start doing and tell me a little bit more about your path.
Mara (06:15):
So in college I studied accounting. I got my CPA and then went straight to law school. I always knew I was going to go to law school. I guess I was even at six years old. I said my dream job was to be a Supreme Court justice. I guess I really wanted job security. A job that you'd have for life and never get fired.
Kim (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well I said I wanted to be the first woman president when I was in first grade and I definitely don't want that anymore.
Mara (06:40):
Love that. So I knew, I always knew I was going to go to law school going in. That was the plan. Going into college, that was always the plan. So I went from college straight to law school and then worked my butt off because I wanted to get a job at a big firm so I could pay off all my law school loans. And I think I was just so focused on what I need to do to get to the next step. I never even looked at any other options or opportunities. I was just super, my apically focused on, okay, what do I need to do then? What do I need to do to succeed in a big law firm? It was great experience At the time, my law firm was the largest law firm in Chicago, so the true big law firm experience and you know, get thrown in the fire really quickly, you learn a lot very fast on the job.
(07:20):
It was exciting, it was fun. My deals were great, huge fun deals. I got married right when I started and then years later when I was thinking about starting a family, I looked around and there were no female partners in my entire department. There were no role models to look at how can you possibly balance having a family and life at a large law firm At the time my option was and they wanted me to stay in, well you can go well part-time meant you work, get paid for part-time off the partnership track, which didn't sit well with me and you don't get those big sexy deals anymore. You're kind of doing more of the mundane stuff that you can do in a part-time position because you can't tell a client like, oh, I can't close your deal on a Tuesday cause I don't work on Tuesdays.
(08:10):
So I said, I'm going to go a different route now and try using the business side and that parks law. So I went to McDonald Corporation to work in their corporate development and business strategy group and that actually the first time it kind of sparked my entrepreneurial spirit. I was studying consumer trends and insights and we were ideating and thinking new concepts and I found the whole thing really exciting and loved the whole ideation process. And at the time, so I started thinking about starting my own company. I looked into opening a franchise of an ice cream shop and then realized that Chicago is not the best locale for an ice cream shop. But the idea started pering, like what could I do? While I was there I became pregnant with my oldest were twins though and I ended up very suddenly on emergency bedrest while at a work dinner and rushed to the hospital and that was the very abrupt end of my corporate career.
(09:07):
So all those plans and moving my way up and things like that came to a screeching halt. So I found myself on bedrest for three and a half months. Half of it in the hospital, half of it, it at home had preemie twins and I just made the decision to stay home. I thought they needed my attention. I had these teeny little babies that I had worked really hard to make sure that I had them after not leaving my bed for three and a half months. I'm fortunate because not a lot of women can make that choice, but I'm fortunate I was able to make that choice and so I decided to stay home. So I was home for many years. And how
Kim (09:44):
Many years is many years?
Mara (09:45):
Before I started my company it was like 17 years.
Kim (09:51):
You were home with your kids for 17 years before starting your tequila company?
Mara (09:55):
Yes. My youngest is nine and a half years younger than my oldest kids. So I was home for a long time. I think it was either 16 or 17 years I lose track. Cause I also, I started this all at the impeccable timing right before the world shut down and covid like February, 2020. So the whole timing's like a blur. Yeah. So I was home for many years, c e o of my house. I think I took that job just as seriously as my job outside the home, but was always thinking of things. And I knew one thing that I was going to start my own company, that I really was ready to do something in my own. I wanted to personally see something, to come to fruition, show myself that I could build something from scratch. And I also knew it was going to be in the consumer product space and probably food and beverage because I'm a major foodie and love taste testing and trying things.
(10:45):
I had narrowed down what I thought the area would be and I kept coming back to tequila just because I'm a tequila drinker. I've been aquila drinker for years. All these women kept telling me that tequila's their drink of choice. I kept thinking to myself, well why don't brands focus on this consumer? I can't believe no one's positioning or doing anything for this female tequila consumer. And for some reason they're just totally overlooked in the market. I don't know why they don't think that women drink spirits, but they do. They market hard seltzers and wine but not spirits to women. So I saw a market opportunity and I thought there was a way that we could do something different and also innovate in the industry.
Kim (11:24):
So my question to you would be being out of the game, out of work, out of the workforce per se for 17 years, getting back into it, was it easy to find your groove again or did you feel like you were rusty? How did you like the entrance?
Mara (11:40):
Yes, and I think it's really hard for women to reenter, right? I mean there's a huge gap in the resume. I kind of say instead of knocking down someone's door, which may have been hard, I built my own door.
Kim (11:50):
You built your own house and then your own door.
Mara (11:52):
Exactly. It wasn't that the skills I had were rusty and I think it took me the time to appreciate that that all the skills I had prior to being home, I still had those and that I actually honed new skills that I think we often overlooked. I actually think I didn't even appreciate it. I had a lot of imposter syndrome thinking, can I really do this? I've been home. Is anyone going to take me seriously? And I feel like society also looks at that as maybe not valuing everything that a caretaker does. But then when I reflected on it I thought, well gosh, really if anyone can multitask, that's a mom and a mom of preemie twins, efficiency, highly efficient, all these things that really are applicable to startup life and problem solving. Look at your day. My day did not go as planned today. I forgot that my son has a half day of school. I'm on an interview now while he has a half day, someone had to go pick him up. Constantly problem solving. Cause no day ever goes as planned with children. Well that's kind of the same in a startup. So I think there are some skills that I think I needed to really realize and appreciate that actually make me better at what I'm doing than had I not been home. And
Kim (13:11):
What stage are you at in the business right now?
Mara (13:13):
So it was founded in February, 2020. We launched online initially it's September, 2021 and now we're scaling state by state. So because I'm based in Chicago, our first market is Illinois and going into retail bars, restaurants throughout the state of Illinois, we just opened the state of Michigan and we do some distribution in New York, Florida and California with self-distribution in those states. But because it's alcohol, it's so highly regulated. Again, a skill that I think was useful. Having a legal background and knowing how to research those things and figure out the three tier distribution system and alcohol and how every state works totally differently and has different compliance rules. I mean it's a little hard to navigate that probably for someone coming into the industry new. But that was something that wasn't super daunting to me. And then we'll kind of scale on a state by state level because of that kind of three tier distribution system and that we have to have a distributed partner in every state we enter into. And also we just want to be really thoughtful and strategic about it and that spread ourselves too thinly.
Kim (14:23):
You raised a good point. I do feel like I have three lawyers in my family and I feel like law and business degrees and having those backgrounds, I feel like they're always applicable. And maybe that's why when I was in college there was an influx of people going to law school. Law is an underpinning of business. It's an underpinning of our society, of legislature, of politics. I do think that once you have that, even if you're not practicing for a long time, that's a really incredible skill to have. I never did because I wasn't interested in it. But I look back, I'm like, oh yeah, I now see why it's appealing. Are you selling online across the country? I live in New York so I could get a distributor, but if I were in Delaware or Colorado, can people order Inspiro tequila across the country?
Mara (15:03):
Yep. We are available. We shipped to 45 states online.
Kim (15:07):
Oh great, okay. I've learned so much about the beverage industry because I was doing digital marketing consultant. I was a consultant for Owls Brew, which is a hard tea.
Mara (15:18):
I totally know Owls brew.
Kim (15:19):
It's delicious. I liked it anyway. And then I worked with them. I love it. But I learned so much about distribution and how opening doors and the challenges. And I did want to give a plug for Alice too because they are really, you can taste that. It doesn't have chemicals, which is what I like also about and Inspiroo is that it doesn't have the additives. You can ta. It does always taste different when there aren't those weird chemicals. It always tastes different,
Mara (15:44):
Right? Well listen, I was drinking all these tequilas. That's was the impetus to this. I was drinking all these tequilas. Cause I thought I was like it was better for me and a cleaner drink. And then I discovered that everything I was drinking had additives, flavoring, coloring, glycerin. And I was like, oh, that's why it tasted so vanilla or so caramel and that the vast majority used additives. So that was really, if I was going to do something, I said, well can we create those, the taste profile, the easy to drink, sweet or tasting those, but without using additives. So that was kind of the mission we were on and coming up with something new.
Kim (16:17):
And that was so that was the impetus, the making something that's cleaner. That was the draw for you to create this. Yes.
Mara (16:23):
Cleaner. I think everything, having everything from the bottle design I wanted, something that just appealed to me is a consumer. I wanted to have the taste profile that I like. That's really approachable, easy to drink. I wanted the bottle design be something that I would want to display. It's super sleek and it's sophisticated. It's also purposefully easy to hold and pour. I hated manipulating the really big round style bottles. So I made something that was slender in the middle that you could grab easily and taste profile, aroma profile, my master distiller, we have women involved in every part of our process from our masters, still our Mexico, and she created the aroma wheel on tequila. She's really cognizant of the fact that the aromas, how much it lends to the taste profile. So that was important, even getting the right aroma. And I think also just messaging that appealed to me using scan clad women and dark club scenes just did not resonate with me. That's just not how to speak to me as a consumer.
Kim (17:15):
Women in bikini doesn't make you want to drink what?
Mara (17:18):
No, it makes me want to not eat. So
Kim (17:24):
If you're the parent of a college bound student, you're probably feeling mixed emotions right now. As acceptance letters and financial aid offers arrive excited and proud of your student, but also stressed thinking about how you're going to pay for it all. Take my advice and check out College Ave Student Loans. They are the emotional support system to guide you through the college journey. From start to finish. With College Ave, you'll get free access tools and resources that make the financial road to college easier. Like their student loan calculator that lets you see how a future loan can work for you and your budget. Plus, every month they give away a thousand dollars scholarship to one lucky family. Entering is fast and easy and winning could have a big impact on your college expenses. Visit college ave.com/exit interview. Trust me, it's a better student loan experience. There's no purchase necessary to enter or win the scholarship. See official contest rules for details@collegeave.com slash exit interview. Talk to me about being a female owned company in a male dominated industry.
Mara (18:24):
So I feel like there's two parts that I, one, I've always been in male dominated industries, so I kind of like didn't notice it necessarily often. I mean, I started my undergrad, I was in engineering and now looking back I'm like, were there any women in my class? And then I was in accounting. So I feel like in a big law firm. So I feel like that's always been part of my career path, that I've always been a kind of male dominated industries and just thought, okay, well I'm going to outwork everyone and improve myself in spirit. What I say is there's a movement of people wanting to see more diversity. So I actually think in this time right now, retailers, I think they do have initiatives. I think they do want to have some diversity on the shelves to reflect their consumers. So that part of it, I found people pretty accepting, but it's still hard.
(19:14):
I still go down and I'm at a distillery in Mexico. I mean there are not a lot of women there. It happens to be that our manager of our distillery who runs all of operations as women, which is amazing and unheard of pretty much. And my master distiller is woman. But when you're in a room and you're doing tasting and I'm telling them what I think would appeal to a feminine P and it's all men around a tasting table. Or when I go and talking to different sales groups in different markets or we're pitching or presenting, I mean it's most often to a room of white men just in general. So it doesn't mean that they haven't been accepting or taking me in, but it's just kind of like that's what you see everywhere. And I think it might be a harder sell for them to understand weight.
(20:04):
All these women drink tequila because they're just not used to hearing that. So I think that's a piece of it. I also think the other piece in spirits in general, so many people have been in the industry for a really long time. So for me, the bigger hurdle was coming in as an outsider and just gaining credibility and being taken seriously when you haven't worked your way up in the industry. People have started working in bars, different suppliers, distributors, they just have very long histories, most people that have been in this industry. And because of that, I feel like the extra mile and did as much research as possible. I just felt like I had to be really prepared. I had to understand the ins and outs of the spirits industry. I had to understand the ins and outs of the tequila industry. I took a course offered by the C R t, the governing body in Mexico for tequila to become certified in the production and history of tequila making. I just thought I better know as much as I can and educate myself as much as possible in order to enter a room with all those people who have been in the industry for so long.
Kim (21:12):
So your company is self-funded. What made you decide to bootstrap it and not take any investor money?
Mara (21:18):
There are a number of reasons, and that's a great question that so many female founders are always thinking about, right? One, I'll say I started this as a little more seasoned entrepreneur and it's my nice way of saying I didn't start this from my dorm room or in grad school. So I've had an opportunity to have a longer work history. My husband and I both have been working for many years, so we're able to fund and I think that's helpful starting out. I like the idea of having proof of concept first before going to take money, rolling it out, making sure there's some proof of concept. Even before taking friends and family money, I just for me would feel more comfortable. And that's kind of the route I've gone. It also, it's extremely time consuming and I'm one body and wearing a lot of hats as you understand.
(22:06):
And there's just so much bandwidth I have. And that is really a full-time job to go out and fundraise. So that's another piece of it. And I think lastly at this stage, I really have a vision of what I want it to become and being able to maintain that. When you have other people, you have other people's voices and ideas and you have to take those into consideration. And right now I can really focus on what we have and what we've envisioned with my team. So I think those are kind of the reasons. And it's not to say I won't have to at some point, but for now, that was my rationale for boots stamping.
Kim (22:46):
Talk to me about your work-life balance. How is your worklife balance?
Mara (22:50):
There's no balance. I don't believe in work-life balance. I like the term of blend. I am very good at being ultra focused. So whatever I'm focused on at that time, I will get it down and hammer it out. So if it's a work thing that's get done, I can sit for hours and focus and get a contract done and get it out. So I try and just get something done well every day. But I'm probably not going to get everything in the ball's going to drop somewhere else. I think before we start, I told you today's a half day school for my son and I'm like scrambling, making sure someone picks up, I forgot the Valentine's cards, they'd have to go to the class. A friend stepped in and like, oh, I have extra, I'll pick him up on my porch. I'm picking him up on the way to school while he's filling him out in the car. So no balance. I try and again, problem solve and figure out a way to get around it. But I think if it's we're at a basketball tournament this weekend, I will be focused and all in there and watching basketball and I'll probably not answer the a hundred emails that came through and have to catch up. Or when I'm doing something for work, I'm totally focused on that. And I forget the Valentine's cards because that's it. So I try just get one thing done really well, but every day I drop a bunch of other balls.
Kim (24:04):
Totally feel you. My husband calls me a vortex. I'm very, if I am working on something, three hours will pass and I won't even notice because I'm in it to win it and I need to finish it. So I try to be aware of that. So I do the deep work session. Sometimes I'm like, you know what? After the kids are in bed at eight o'clock, like that's when I'm going to work on this one deck for a speaking engagement, I need a two hour chunk. I'm a marketing person. So Or has it worked In terms of marketing the business, what have you struggled with?
Mara (24:36):
Well, the first struggle is I am not a marketing person. So as we talked about, I have an accounting, legal and strategy background. Marketing was a whole black hole for me. So I had to learn everything. I mean, literally, I didn't know how to post on Instagram, nothing. I'd never used Instagram. So it's been an exciting and fun and huge learning curve. And I think for me, the biggest learning has been how to find the right people to handle some of those channels because I am not, I'm not efficient at it. It's not a good use of my time. It takes me so long because I'm inexperienced. I think my biggest challenge for me personally is I'm not used to documenting my life. And there are things that they want to capture. I mean, I did an event last night, tastings. It was a networking event and of course I left and I didn't take one picture, I didn't take a video, I didn't take a picture. I have nothing to give the social media team because it's just not something I'm used to doing.
Kim (25:34):
Do you have a team, a social media team working for you? A one person or I
Mara (25:37):
Do. I have a social media agency. And actually that's something, it took a long time to find the right group, but I wanted a smaller agency where I knew I'd get attention. I had switched a couple times and it wasn't the right fit for a new brand and finding the right fit, it also took me some time to learn that I have to, things don't have to be perfect and sometimes it just be done and complete. So I was taking the time, I was rewriting every single caption.
Kim (26:04):
That's something I have learned both in my years in tv. So basically I was a live news producer and if you had one type on the error, you were just sort of marched into the principal's office and screamed at. So I'm so used to everything has to be correct for the news. It has to be perfect. So after so much training like that, I've had to untrain myself my first six months of posting on social media. I'd be like, oh, I made a typo of the caption. Or, oh, that's not perfect. I'd be so frustrated and annoyed at myself. And now I'm like, people accept that it's social media. If you have one small typo, it's not the end of the world. Also, there's so much content you're putting out there, it doesn't matter as much and done is better than perfect. I always believed, and I always would teach my team that, but I think the idea of that one type or one bad edit in the video is not going to kill it. It doesn't matter that much. Just move on, on and move forward. I think that that's been a growth thing for me. I was always done is better than perfect.
Mara (26:59):
Yes, I agree. It's taking me some time to get that point also. Cause I tend to write, the people laugh a little bit on my team when I send an email. It sounds like it's coming from a lawyer. I'm like, I know with everything my grammar, I'm not good at kind of using any sling terms or inaccurate punctuation. Everything has to be done how I was taught to do it for legal writing. So it's getting over that a little bit too.
Kim (27:24):
And I have two more questions. Talk to me about, I know you're involved in supporting other female founded companies. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Mara (27:30):
Yes. The most exciting part of literally my entire entrepreneurial journey has been that I've connected with so many amazing female founders and leaders, which has been essential honestly to me because we talked about, I was out of the workforce for a long time. I have great friends, supportive, great friends, but I had no connections, no business connections. So I had to build an entire community one by one and every introduction let's another introduction. And I just felt so fortunate that all these women were willing to give feedback, offer some guidance, just teach me something along the way, even if it's a social media tip, anything. And it really was important to me to be able to give back to other founders. So we provide grants and mentoring. It's under the moniker of the Purple Bicycle project, which is just a story about me being really either a determined or very stubborn child and wanting to ride a purple bicycle.
(28:20):
That was way too big for me. But managing to do it in the end and just understanding that so many women face a lot of obstacles in starting out and what could we do to support them? And really, I love the mentoring part the most. And these are when we do grants and we work with other groups that provide grants. The reason I want to do that is cause I'm really actively involved. So I'm reading all of the grants that are submitted and then I'm selecting the people and I'm the one interviewing them and then I'm selecting them and then whoever I select I'm working with and mentoring afterwards. So I wanted something that was a little more like hands-on than just kind of contributing money. Yeah.
Kim (29:04):
What's one piece of advice you'd give to another founder?
Mara (29:07):
It's always two pieces. And that's because I think one, you need to do the research. There's no getting around doing the hard work. And I think being over prepared is better. So research, research, research. Get up to speed as much as you can, even research to make sure that it's something you're interested in. I feel like once you start delving in, you'll see like, oh, is this really something I want to do or not? Does it match your skillsets and what you personally want to do? So I'd say that doing the due diligence. And then secondly is again, building a community because I think it's kind of a lonely journey and I really think it's important to have people around you. I share resources, I find out what's a new app, what's soft software to use introductions to other people. There's just so many ways that you can support each other. And so I think having a community that's supportive is really essential. Cause I just don't think you can do it alone. Yeah, I think you have to have people to go to.
Kim (30:01):
That's something I found from running my own business too. I feel like the big shift for me was I had been in corporate and so many of my friends still work traditional jobs and so they don't really understand when I have a win doesn't mean anything to them, or they don't even understand why I'm on social media a lot. I'm like, this is literally how I market my business. This is actually how I get the word out. And I think it's been a really helpful thing for me to connect with other founders, female and male, whatever, but other self-employed professionals and other business owners because they're in the same boat as you and they're going to be your cheerleaders and they're going to be your mentors and your friends and you're going to mentor them. There are people that we mentor each other and someone gives me advice and I give them advice. And I found this really cool relationship in that when I worked at a company, I still had great people who gave me advice and I still learn so much from them. I look back, they taught me so much, but especially now in this stage where it's harder to know who your colleague is, who's your coworker. You don't have a coworker, you know, don't have a cubicle. And so that kinship, that friendship, that mentorship and that allyship is really important as you grow. So I a hundred percent agree with you
Mara (31:12):
Just also to know there's someone who could be in the same situation. One day I was like, I can't believe I'm taking another zoom. I get off, I was kind of annoyed supplier trying to retrade pricing and I was like, I can't. So I was meeting a new, I'm another woman, another founder, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to get on. Even though I was just bummed, I just got off the call when I talked to her, I'm like, sorry, just having a day. She's like, oh, and just tell me, someone could totally relate. She's like, oh, our first warehouse with all our product there burned down and they haven't turned over the insurance money yet and we lost all our product. I'm like, oh my gosh, you just need to talk someone else. Not that it made me feel good that she had that.
Kim (31:50):
Let's be honest, it does make you feel better when you think you have a bad day and someone's like, actually my product burned down. You're not happy about it. But it does make, put it a perspective,
Mara (31:58):
Every founder has had those issues like a similar issue and can relate. So it's just nice to be able to talk to someone because if I had told the same story to my husband, he'd been like, well, what do you mean? And what do they do and why do they do that? What relate to it as like another founder's like, yeah, those things happen all the time.
Kim (32:14):
Mara, I really enjoyed chatting with you and hearing about Inspiro tequila. You can get Inspiro tequila@inspirotequila.com or stores in Illinois and Michigan, and you can connect with her directly on LinkedIn at Ma Smith. Here is when we feature a real mom life in its happiest, funniest, or grossest moments. And if you want to submit your real mom moment, visit mom's exit interview.com and while you're there, sign up for our newsletter. This one is from Lauren A. Tetenbaum L M S W J D P M H C. She's a mom, a former lawyer, and a therapist certified in perinatal Mental health and the Fair Play method. Who threw her practice at L A t Counseling, specializes in supporting millennial and young women with navigating life transitions and advocating for themselves.
Lauren (33:01):
My kids are now six and four and they're my best friends. They make me laugh all the time, and they're honestly opportunities for me to self-reflect on what I'm teaching them because they kind of throw it back at me often. The other day, for example, we all overslept. My alarm just, I don't know, I must have turned it off. And I woke up with my daughter waking me up and I could tell that it was late. So we ran to school. We tried not to be super frantic. I was trying to tell them we're late, but let's be calm. And we all kind of tried to stay calm and I hoped that it went well. The next morning though, my little one, my daughter said, are we late? Are we late? And I could tell she was a little nervous. And my older one, my son, he said, it's okay, stay calm. And we we're not late yet, but we still could be. So that just made me laugh because it was reflective of my coping mechanism of trying to stay calm, breathe through the moment, and also this growth mindset where he said, we still have time to be late. And it really just made me laugh and they constantly make me smile and very proud to be their mom.
Kim (34:14):
Thank you so much for listening. Make sure to drop a review and if you want to send in a real mom moment that we'll share on the air, check out moms exit interview.com. And if you're a professional or small business owner looking to grow your brand through amazing content with no silly dances and with no burnout, check out my website, kim rit bird.com and you can hit contact to chat with me. And thanks for listening. Like this is the most amazing community and you guys send in the best feedback, so share it with your friends. Let anyone know who you think would appreciate it. And this is Mom's Exit interview. I'm your host and executive producer Kim Rit. The show is produced by Henry Street Media. Jillian Grover edited this episode, and Eliza Friedlander is our editorial producer and publicist. I'll see you next time.
(35:07):
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